Sypha Belnades
(also known as Syfa Velnumdes, Cipher Fernandez or Cipher Vernades) is a recurrent character in the Castlevania series. She is a witch from the region of Wallachia, where she initially had to conceal her identity by posing as a man in order to escape the witch trials of the time. She was introduced into the series as one of the four protagonists of the 1989-90 game Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, and has since appeared or been referred to in numerous sequels and related media. By the end of Dracula's Curse, her true gender was finally revealed and not long after she and Trevor Belmont got married, preserving with this the Belmont lineage and enhancing its bloodline with the magical powers of the Belnades Clan. The instruction booklet of the English version of Dracula's Curse refers to Sypha as a "Mystic Warlord", and the game itself refers to her with male pronouns, leading to an (purposed) initial confusion of Sypha's gender among players. Character's history Early life Sypha Belnades was a witch who harnessed the energy of spirits to command the power of the elements. Sypha grew up among witches in Wallachia. When she was very young, children of the night, including the vampire Carmilla, darkened the hearts of men and helped spark the great witch trials which resulted in the death of many of Sypha's sister witches.Castlevania Judgment. Konami. 2009. Sypha Story Mode. Both of her parents were killed in the process.Akumajō Densetsu instruction manual. Konami. 1989. p.3, 4, 5, 6. RC-845. Sypha escaped and was found wandering near a monastery in Wallachia and was granted protection by the church. Sypha would remain at that monastery for some time and would train as a monk. She eventually mastered the elements of fire, ice, and lightning by making a deal with spirits. Sypha had a burning desire to destroy anything tainted by darkness who she felt was responsible for mankind's actions against her kind and would become a hunter for the church. ''Dracula's Curse'' In Wallachia, during the year 1476, the populace became disturbed when monsters, who had until that point only been talked about in legend, started to appear in populated areas. According to rumors, they were commanded by a mysterious Count in black known as Dracula.Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (comic). Tokyopop. 2008. p.19,20,21,22. Viewing the situation with great concern, the Eastern Orthodox Church sent out their troops to subdue to the threat. Because he was suspected to be a vampire, a secret team was deployed to find and defeat Dracula.Castlevania 20th Anniversary Pre-order Bundle. Konami. 2006. Timeline. 1476: Castlevania Dracula's Curse. Sypha was part of the hunting party formed by the Church to take on Dracula. Since the people of Wallachia were known to be afraid of witches, and because the young woman Lisa had been executed for suspicion of witchcraft months prior, Sypha had disguised herself as a man in order to move around without concern.Castlevania Judgment. Konami. 2009. Story Mode. Character: Sypha Belnades. Ending. She was eventually captured by a Cyclops and was turned into a statue. After receiving no word from Wallachia for some time, the Pope turned to the Belmont family as a last resort. Trevor Belmont stepped forward to end the oppression of Wallachia. Trevor managed to put an end to the cyclops, and Sypha was freed of her petrification. She then decided to go along with him. Together with Grant Danasty, a freedom fighter, and Alucard, Dracula's son, the four heroes fought their way to Dracula's Throne Room. Through their combined efforts, they managed to subdue him. After the fight, they watched the Castle crumble at a nearby mountain cliff. All the monsters disappeared alongside with Dracula, and Wallachia was at rest.Akumajō Densetsu ending. Legacy Sypha likely left her hard life as a hunter of the church and settled down as Trevor's wife. However, Grant could not bear watching Sypha getting married to another, and they would sorely miss him at their wedding. He would avoid them for the next three years.Castlevania Judgment. Konami. 2009. Story Mode. Character: Grant Danasty. They would eventually have children that would carry on the Belmont legacy.Castlevania (Lament of Innocence) Guide. History of Castlevania. Family Tree. Konami & NTT PUB. 2003 Sypha proved to generally have the final say in matters dealing with the home and Trevor would continue his role as vampire hunter.Castlevania Judgment. Konami. 2009. Story Mode. Character: Trevor Belmont. Sypha and her compatriots Alucard and Grant who had fought alongside Trevor against Dracula became known as the "Legendary Three Warriors" and their tales were passed down from generation to generation of Belmonts.Castlevania Judgment. Konami. 2009. Story Mode. Character: Simon Belmont. Sypha had passed along great magic abilities to some of her descendants, most noticeably Juste Belmont, who would be born two hundred and fifty years later.Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance instruction manual. Konami. 2002. Her descendants would face Dracula many times over the next five hundred years. Other members of the Belnades Clan would also continue serving the church in much the same capacity that Sypha had for generations, including Yoko Belnades in the 21st century. Their exact relationship to Sypha is unclear. Other relative of Sypha is Charlotte Aulin of the 20th century. Boss ''Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Although Sypha does not appear in person, a zombie impersonating her, along with two other zombies impersonating Trevor Belmont and Grant Danasty, is fought as a boss in ''Symphony of the Night, and is encountered in the Reverse Colosseum. She is an evil duplicate made to confuse Alucard. ''Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin The trio of zombies from ''Symphony of the Night return in Portrait of Ruin. They are encountered in the Nest of Evil, a special area where several bosses from previous games can be fought. Battle ''Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse Sypha is one of the allies that can be recruited in ''Dracula's Curse. Since she is a magic-user, Sypha fights with a staff, which is very quick but at the same does not inflict a lot of damage. Her only sub-weapon is the Stopwatch. Spells Sypha can control three spells in Dracula's Curse: *Flames - A quick but powerful burst of fire with medium range will emit in front of Sypha. *Frozen Crystals - Six frozen crystals will spread out in front and above Sypha. They have the ability to freeze enemies and projectiles. Frozen enemies can be used as stepping platforms. If the crystals touch a body of water, it will also freeze in its entirety for a brief period of time. *Goodness Gracious Great Bolts of Lightning - Three electrified spheres will spread out in front of Sypha. They have slight homing capabilities and are very powerful. Strengths *Powerful spells. Weaknesses *Very weak offensively. *Very weak defensively. *Weak attack range. *Slow movement. *Poor jumping ability. Other appearances ''Castlevania Judgment Galamoth plots to send the Time Reaper from 10,000 years in the future into the past to destroy his rival Dracula and change history. A man named Aeon discovers this and pulls together champions from different eras of history into a dimensional rift in order to find a chosen one capable of destroying Galamoth's servant. Sypha is one of these warriors. Granted the protection of the Church, Sypha vowed to hunt down the forces of evil and help mankind, despite their continued oppression of her sisters. She seeks vengeance against Carmilla, who influenced the minds of men and began the witch trials. Sypha appears wearing priestly robes, white thigh boots, and wields a double ended staff. Her theme in ''Castlevania Judgment is Mad Forest. ''Pachislot Akumajō Dracula III Sypha appears in ''Pachislot Akumajō Dracula III as a supporting character. She replaces Angela from the previous two Pachislot games in the role of Trevor's ally with feminine charms. She's featured in several events, such as in the "Dracula Battle" segment, where she teams up with Trevor and Alucard against Dracula, and in the cinematics that play during bonus mode. Her appearance is based on her original design from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. She still has blond hair and wears long, blue robes, although she's not entirely shrouded in them anymore. In addition, she wears white boots and a pink skirt. ''Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate Castlevania'' (animated series) Sypha appears in the Castlevania animated series as a member of the Speakers and as the granddaughter of the Elder. She is gifted with magic and control over the elements. After Trevor Belmont rescues her from petrification by a Cyclops, she befriends him and follows him in his journey to stop Dracula's plans. Gallery Trivia *The Fernandez warrior from Castlevania (N64) was originally conceived as Sypha Belnades herself. The designers ultimately scrapped the idea before the game's release, simply making her another Fernandez.[http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/cv64/guide-sog.htm Shinkigensha Akumajō Dracula Mokushiroku Official Guide.]staff interview. p.131. *In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Yoko Belnades is a playable character whose fighting style - very similar to Sypha's - includes the use of various spells and a weak staff. *Her name is a pun on 'cipher' - an unknown or an enigma. This fits in well with her hidden true nature. *In the PAL and NTSC versions of Dracula's Curse, Sypha is referred to as a man due to technical limitations of the NES - that is, there could only be one programmed window asking the player if they wish to take a companion with them. The programmers decided on "Take him with you?", thus meaning that all three scenarios would use this text box. **Because of this, her incarnation in the Captain N animated series is a male wizard, despite the actual ending in the game where she is revealed to be female. *She appears briefly during the introduction of Castlevania: Bloodlines. *Sypha is the only one of the three playable allies in Dracula's Curse whom the player does not fight prior to getting her to join (as Grant Danasty was forcibly transfigured into a monster before Trevor lifted his curse, and Alucard briefly fought them in order to test them before formally defecting to their side). *Sypha's Judgment characterization was allegedly not popular among fans due to her being single-mindedly obsessed with trying to wipe out the children of the night, even by targeting characters who were technically on her side, such as Shanoa and Alucard (with the former even being part of the Church just as Sypha is), and coming across as an hypocrite as a result, something that was not alluded to in either Dracula's Curse or even the ''Pachislot'' version. See also *Belnades Clan References External links * es:Sypha Belnades Category:Allies Sypha Belnades Category:Humans Category:Female Characters Category:Playable Characters Category:Protagonists Category:Sypha Belnades Category:Witches and Wizards Category:Animated Dracula's Curse Characters Category:Curse of Darkness Manga Characters Category:Dracula's Curse Characters Category:Judgment Characters Category:Pachislot Characters